K2/R4 Project

CEE Bankwatch Network is disappointed with the results of negotiations between German Chancellor Schrouder and Ukrainian President Kuchma. Schrouder visited Ukraine to discuss alternatives to two nuclear power plants - Khmelnitsky 2 and Rivne 4 (K2/R4). President Kuchma and Chancellor Schrouder were unable to agree on a non-nuclear energy project to replace Chernobyl_s energy production capacity. The package presented to the Ukrainian Government by Schrouder stems from a resolution adopted by the German Parliament on May 17, 1999, asking the German Government to oppose the K2/R4 Project in the EBRD board. In a 1995 Memorandum of Understanding between G-7 countries and Ukraine, the K2/R4 Project was proposed by the G-7 as one of several replacement options for Chernobyl. Since then, K2/R4 was misleadingly introduced by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as the only viable option for the reconstruction of the Ukrainian energy sector. This is despite the fact that the Ukrainian State Committee for Energy Conservation prepared a list of 66 alternative energy projects which would exceed the 1000 MW presently produced by Chernobyl. Yet, the EBRD is now expected to lend 190 million of the1.72 billion USD needed to complete the K2/R4 Project. The widespread opposition of the Ukrainian public to the G-7 and EBRD plan to fund the hazardous K2/R4 nuclear reactors has been matched internationally. Over 260 organisations from 41 countries supported a letter to G-7 leaders which called on them to fund non-nuclear projects rather than the K2/R4 Project.